Bedtime Routines for Your Little Rascal! «

Read to your children. It’s one of the best pieces of parental advice given to me. Believe me…it’s tough! Reading to an infant is not terribly exciting…they just fall asleep on you. Reading to a crawling baby who would much rather throw stack blocks is exasperating. Reading to a curious toddler…who brings you book after book and looks at you with big brown eyes, desperate to know what each picture represents…makes everything before it is beautiful and amazing and so worth it.

My son thrives on routine but it wasn’t until just a little while ago that I actually believed it. I used to dread putting my son to sleep. He didn’t enjoy going to sleep and that really bothered me. I wanted bedtime to be a relaxing, enjoyable experience for all three of us. So I decided to try to formulate some kind of bedtime routine. After dinner, we read, drink milk, put on pajamas, and brush teeth. We lay my son down and he babbles a little in his crib and goes to sleep. It’s wonderful and I highly encourage anyone who is having difficulty with bedtime to start a routine.

Rascal’s Routines, by Haydenburri Lane, is a fabulously ingenious system designed to help parents and children engage in positive routines. Hillary Hayden Burri, the Founder and President, developed the product with her sights set towards making bedtime more enjoyable for children (apparently she knew about my son’s flagrant dislike for bedtime when the idea was dreamt up). Here is a little more about the learning system from her site:

At Haydenburri Lane, we feel that raising happy, well-adjusted children starts with simple everyday activities such as brushing your teeth, eating healthy meals and going to sleep. But, all parents know how difficult it can be to motivate preschoolers. So, we created Rascals & Routines, a learning system, that helps parents engage their preschool children in positive routines.

We were recently given a wonderful opportunity to review the adorable Carry Me Everywhere Suitcase which includes 5 finger puppets of each of the “rascal” ambassadors, a super soft and cozy fleece and satin blanket complete with a puppet pocket, and the Bedtime Safari board book. The five activity ambassador include Bubbles, the hippo, P.J., the bear, Chomper, the crocodile, Paige, the elephant, and Rory, the tiger. Even the naming of each “ambassador” is ingenious. ”Bubbles” for bath time, “Chomper” for brushing teeth, “Paige” for reading stories…it’s brilliant! The book follows Lily and Oliver’s bedtime adventures. I love how positive the entire experience is…from the wording in the book to the illustrations. Each “stop” along the way towards bedtime is filled with a new adventure. The book models independence which I believe helps children adopt and want to participate in routines. There are many activities that children don’t like to do, brushing teeth being one of them. Even the wording that the author chooses helps children view activities like brushing teeth (which she calls tickling the teeth) in an exciting way. The suitcase is a creative way to store the puppets, blanket, and book and symbolizes the concept of an adventure. When bedtime arrives, parents and children can pull out their “suitcase” for their nightly adventure. I also like the puppets because children are very hands-on when it comes to learning. It’s fun for kids to see and touch the ambassadors, and it’s likely that a child will identify with a particular one.

The Carry Me Everywhere Suitcase retails for $29.95 and is available for purchase directly from the site. Right now you’ll receive $5.00 off when you use the code safarimom!